Madeleine McCann new DNA hope: Curtains may hold key to who took her.

[Alfred R Jones]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/madeleine-mccann-new-dna-hope-4508372

Madeleine McCann new DNA hope: Curtains may hold key to who took her
Oct 25, 2014 21:17 By Matthew Drake
Scotland Yard forensics want to use new ­techniques to analyse the curtains, which hung in the room where Madeleine was sleeping with her baby brother and sister

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PANew hope: Maddie and the room
Detectives plan to do new tests on curtains which hung in the apartment where Madeleine McCann disappeared.

They believe the fabric, which has been sealed in an evidence file since three-year-old Madeleine vanished in Portugal in 2007, may hold DNA which will identify to her abductor.

Scotland Yard sent an urgent request to their counterparts in Portugal asking permission to re-examine the fabric.

Forensic experts on the Operation Grange team want to use new ­techniques to analyse the curtains, which hung in the room where Madeleine was sleeping with her baby brother and sister.

 
VIEW GALLERY   
Officers are also set to re-examine 30 strands of hair found in the apartment in the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz using advanced genetic and biological testing procedures.

A team led by Det Chief Insp Andy Redwood has asked for a quick response to the request.

They think the curtains from apartment 5A will have been preserved well enough to hold traces of DNA from Madeleine’s captor.

PAThe room from which Madeleine McCann from was seemingly snatched in Praia de Luz
Portugal’s Public Ministry will now decide if they are willing to hand over the material, which is being kept at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in the city of Coimbra.

There have been significant new developments in DNA science since the initial investigation in 2007.

The first murder conviction using DNA evidence was in 1988, when baker Colin Pitchfork was found guilty of killing Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, both 15, in Narborough, Leics.

Since then the UK has developed one of the largest “libraries” of DNA samples, which increases by more than 400,000 profiles every year.

DNA samples can be taken from body fluids, but also from tiny quantities of human cells left on any surface, from cups and cutlery to cigarette ends.

PAThe room from which Madeleine McCann from was seemingly snatched in Praia de Luz 
The increase of DNA samples being taken and stored has led to a rise in convictions, especially for crimes committed a number of years ago.

The quality of DNA can now be ­“amplified” using complex chemical processes.

A sample of DNA can also now be extracted from a single cell and laboratory robots are being used to speed up the process.

Last week Francisco Brizida, president of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences, where the DNA library is held, said: “Technology now allows us to go further than years ago.”

But he said: “I wouldn’t like to be that ambitious and say the secret to unlocking the Madeleine McCann case lies in our lab.”

A Portuguese police source said: “The best hope is to pass the sample to British officers.”

Police digs in Praia da Luz and interviews with new suspects this summer ended in disappointment.

The probe run by 30

Madeleine McCann: Mystery DNA tested to locate her kidnapper
 
Metropolitan Police proposing DNA tests on key samples that have been stored for seven years

Convicted paedophile believed to have been in Portugal at the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance arrested in Malta
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[pathfinder73]

08 Processos Vol VIII Page 2190

3rd August 2007. 17.17 PM

Inspection by Sniffer Dog

Location: Apartment 5 A in the Ocean Club) Praia da Luz, Lagos

Participants:
1. PJ - Ricardo Paiva
2. UK Mark Harrison
3. UK Martin Grime, UK Forensic Canine P SM Expert
4. Keela - English Springer

The entire activity was filmed and recorded (sound).

On this date a new sniffer dog inspection was carried out in the apartment mentioned above, with the help of the dog Keela who detects human blood remains. The activity produced the following results:

19.19 The dog "marked" an area of tiles in the living room, next to the window and behind the sofa.

19.20 The dog "marked" the lower part of the left white coloured curtain of the window behind the sofa.

Signed.

http://mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/EDDIE-KEELA.htm

[Mr Gray]

So SY want to examine the curtains for dna...more proof that they are looking for an abductor

[jassi]

Maybe, but it doesn't mean that they will find one.

[Mr Gray]

Maybe, but it doesn't mean that they will find one.

but it proves they are looking for one

[jassi]

Well, that's all they have ever been looking for - doesn't mean there was one.

[slartibartfast]

but it proves they are looking for one

No it doesn't. It just proves that they are examining the curtains for DNA. We have no idea why.

[Mr Gray]

No it doesn't. It just proves that they are examining the curtains for DNA. We have no idea why.

who's dna do you think they are looking for then

[jassi]

It makes you wonder. There could be dozens of people's DNA on the curtains- all to be cross-checked against all those who might have been in the apartment for legitimate reasons.

[Miss Taken Identity]

If the dna matches a known paedophile- it will be great news ,however will it be enough to convict I don't think so. The only question to ask would be: what is your DNA doing on this curtain? It does not date stamp. Therefore it cannot pin point when the DNA was deposited. Sadly.

This is the bedroom curtains we are talking about?

[pathfinder73]

If the dna matches a known paedophile- it will be great news ,however will it be enough to convict I don't think so. The only question to ask would be: what is your DNA doing on this curtain? It does not date stamp. Therefore it cannot pin point when the DNA was deposited. Sadly.

This is the bedroom curtains we are talking about?

The living room curtains were kept as evidence. Nothing about the bedroom ones but I would've thought they would be kept.

19.19 The dog "marked" an area of tiles in the living room, next to the window and behind the sofa.

19.20 The dog "marked" the lower part of the left white coloured curtain of the window behind the sofa.

Samples sent to the lab.

Between 3pm on August 4th 2007 and 6.30am on August 5th 2007, the following samples were recovered in the living room of apartment 5A at the OCEAN CLUB where a murder probably took place.

Samples 1A to 3B: recovered on the floor.
Samples 4A to 13B: recovered on the wall.
Samples 14A to 15B: recovered behind the sofa.
Sample 16A: recovered from the blue curtain.
Samples 16B: recovered from the white curtain behind the blue curtain.

All of these elements have been handed over to the Birmingham Forensic Science Services. (FSS)

http://mccannpjfiles.co.uk/PJ/EDDIE-KEELA.htm

[Carana]

If the dna matches a known paedophile- it will be great news ,however will it be enough to convict I don't think so. The only question to ask would be: what is your DNA doing on this curtain? It does not date stamp. Therefore it cannot pin point when the DNA was deposited. Sadly.

This is the bedroom curtains we are talking about?

I think the Mirror has got it muddled up. There is nothing in the files that I can find about the bedroom curtains having been bagged. The curtain and netting from the living-room were kept, but I don't quite see why there would be any interest in those.

I think the hairs are of greater importance, particularly if they can now extract a nuclear DNA profile, as opposed to the rather vague mtDNA haplotyping, which doesn't actually identify anyone.

However, I agree that on it's own a DNA sample wouldn't be enough for a conviction, although it could be an important piece of the puzzle if the person had no reason to have ever been there. It could potentially lead to questioning someone who is serving time for some offence or other and who wasn't on the radar. A problem with that, however, is that the law on establishing a DNA database of convicts was only passed in 2008 and only for sentences of more than three years, so it's in its infancy.
http://www.genewatch.org/sub-566805

[ferryman]

I think the Mirror has got it muddled up. There is nothing in the files that I can find about the bedroom curtains having been bagged. The curtain and netting from the living-room were kept, but I don't quite see why there would be any interest in those.

I think the hairs are of greater importance, particularly if they can now extract a nuclear DNA profile, as opposed to the rather vague mtDNA haplotyping, which doesn't actually identify anyone.

However, I agree that on it's own a DNA sample wouldn't be enough for a conviction, although it could be an important piece of the puzzle if the person had no reason to have ever been there. It could potentially lead to questioning someone who is serving time for some offence or other and who wasn't on the radar. A problem with that, however, is that the law on establishing a DNA database of convicts was only passed in 2008 and only for sentences of more than three years, so it's in its infancy.
http://www.genewatch.org/sub-566805

DNA matches can be valuable, but the right context is needed.

You cannot simply match a DNA profile to someone known and say he/shedunit!

BUT, if you can identify a DNA match to someone tied by independent evidence close to the crime scene at just about the time the crime is known to have been committed, you drastically reduce the population sample, and then you have something much more substantial ...

[faithlilly]

An abductor would have had no need to touch the curtains that were wedged tightly behind the sofa however if DNA was found that did match Madeleine's, and the police believe Madeleine died in the apartment, her parents would certainly have some explaining to do.

[Mr Gray]

An abductor would have had no need to touch the curtains that were wedged tightly behind the sofa however if DNA was found that did match Madeleine's, and the police believe Madeleine died in the apartment, her parents would certainly have some explaining to do.

Why should Madeleine's dna on the curtains have any significance...it wouldn't. All the families dna would likely be all around the apartment. It is strangers dna that would be significant...particularly the suspects they have interviewed